Free Republic

Within the Democratic Party, Obama's losses are primarily evident among the relatively small group that describes its political views as conservative. The 63% of conservative Democrats supporting Obama over McCain in Aug. 18-24 polling is the lowest Obama has earned since he clinched the Democratic nomination in June. At the same time, there have been no similar drops in support for Obama in the preferences of liberal or moderate Democrats. As a result of this, support for Obama among all Democratic registered voters fell from 81% in early August (Aug. 4-10) to 78% last week (Aug. 18-24). Obama's support from...

Chestnut Hill, West Virginia---West Virginia's registered Democrats, like their cousins in western Pennsylvania and eastern and southern Ohio, are having a hard time fitting anywhere within Barack Obama's vision of the Democratic party. "Obama and his message just do not gel with me," said Mark Lamp as he climbed into his utility truck. Lamp, 47, from neighboring Weirton, is a registered Democrat who voted for Clinton in the May primary. "My first problem with him is taxes, the second is experience," he explained. Lamp has worked in construction all of his life, and the company he works for builds houses...

Obama held the slight upper hand in the race from early June through mid-August. His failure to maintain that last week -- averaging a tie with McCain at 45% -- can be largely explained by some defection from the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, as well as less crossover support from moderate and liberal Republicans. Given these contradictory partisan trends, and the fact that Gallup finds no clear pattern in the recent weekly presidential preference trends by religion, there does not seem to be a coherent ideological or religious basis to the shift (such as might be explained by...

Thirty percent (30%) of conservative Democrats say they’re voting for John McCain. Rasmussen Reports data also shows the Republican hopeful picking up support from 19% of White Democrats and 15% of Democrats over the age of 50. These results are from national telephone survey interviews conducted with 14,000 Likely Voters during the two weeks ending July 24. The sample includes 5,074 Democratic voters. The data shows that 43% of Democrats consider themselves politically liberal, 37% say they’re moderate, and 18% are conservative. Forty-one percent (41%) of conservative Democrats have a favorable opinion of John McCain. Sixty-seven percent (67%) say the...

Reid Wilson of Real Clear Politics had a column yesterday, "Dems finding success in the center" about how democrats have been having success winning House seats by recruiting "conservative" democrat candidates, and they were following the model again in 2008. While it is true that the democrat party has had success in executing this tactic, this success is due more to their ability to fool the public about these candidates than anything else. Wilson mentioned a few members such as John Barrow of Georgia and Heath Shuler of North Carolina (perhaps better known in the South for his college football...

In consecutive days last month, Alabama lost two legends from a disappearing movement — Southern Democrats powerful in Washington because of their party's majority and powerful back home because of their tendency to buck it. Look around Congress these days and you'll find few conservative Democrats in the mold of the late Sen. Howell Heflin or Rep. Tom Bevill. Those who remain are almost as likely to represent the Midwest or Great Plains as the once-solid South. According to Congressional Observer Publications, only one current member of the U.S. House voted against his party at least a third of the...